Watching John Wayne movies together.
Catching a football thrown just out of reach to see if I could catch it.
Riding in his old Ford pick up.
Having a answer for every question I asked.
BBQ on the back porch.

God, I wish I could just catch on more ball.

 

I have a hard time discussing this issue so all I'll say is I wish i had it to do all over again.I miss everything..

 

J E, I know what you mean. My dad Died when I was 7yrs old so the memories are few but they are sweet. It helps to know that I'll see him again someday.--Jack

 

Him on the ground gasping for breath after my then-girlfriend planted a boot in his solar plexus.

 

I wish I had fond memories of my dad. All I remember is fear and abandonment. I guess it is best not to have too many memories.

 

Jarlaxle, from reading this and some of your previous posts you must hang with some mean women. No offense intended of course.--Jack

 

a year and ahalf ago my dad had a severe stroke. hes still living but now is unable to wlak alot etc. before dad got sick he would work with me and for me. He would deliver envelopes with me and in Manhattan where you cant park sometimes when i had alot to deliver id drive in there and he would run into the buildings and id sit in the truck to avoid tickets. we would make a day of it have lunch out etc. sometimes if i had a long trip id take him along for the ride. dad has sort of lost control of his bladder as a result of the stroke so t he long trips are out and hes wheelchair bound. I still take dad out to stores etc, but the days of working together are long gone i miss that. my dad and i didnt have alot in common he wasnt into sports or trucks or any kind of manual labor he was into symphonies and business( office kind) and reading novels, but we did do a few things together.. i miss taking trips to AC with him too what was cool is if he won we would split and if i won id split
now any time i spend with dad is usually trying to get him to walk or something as hes getting real depressed as mom is getting sick and hes pretty helpless.

 

.....Which Dad? Ive had many.

 

My favorite memory is when he taught me to drive. He sat behind me on the International TD9 track tractor, and said, "OK Son, now I'm going to show you how to stop. When I say stop, just shove the clutch lever forward and push both brakes". We were going down the dusty road when he said "Stop". I shoved the clutch lever and stompted both brakes. My dad came flying over my shoulder, hit the hot exhaust pipe and rolled off the side onto the road. I figured I was in bad trouble as he got up and brushed off some of the dust. "Well Son", he said, " I'd say you've got that stopping down pretty good". A good man from a great generation.

 

Everytime he laughed. Most of could say we either don't remember the other times or don't want to remember them. The werious times when he could have been injured even sometime came out funny. Dad and his boss were trying to get a couple of wilder steers in a carral. The horses were winded so they went to the pickup. Put a stake in the back corner and tied the rope to it. Dad got in the back the boss driving. Dad threw the rope and caught a sagebrush. The stake broke off. Dad decided to bull dog the steer. The steer being winded itself did a "hoolihand" some would call it, a sumersault and landed on Dad. He didn't let go and wound up on top, held it down while the boos circled around and jumped out with his handy pliers and cut some bailing wire to hogtie the steer with. Dad had three broken ribs. We all had a good laugh about it later, all except dad. Another good man from a great generation. My lifetime hero, just wish he had lived longer.

 

I did at the time. Then I married her. 8 years in March.

 

My Dad didnt do anything with me , or say much to me, except for telling me what chores to do daily, etc. When it was garden planting time, I would pull the large single wheel garden plow like a horse and he would tell me to "gee" and "haw" . Thinking back on a good moment tho, I do remember when I was 11, he got up at 6:30 a.m. just as I was getting up to go squirrel hunting . He said he would go with me, and man, was I thrilled inside. We got up to the first stand of beech trees, a gray came out on a limb, my Dad took a shot with his old .410 and missed. He cussed something about the old gun, turned and went back home. After he went out my sight, I just sit down against that old beech tree and let the morning pass. After he had left, I felt dumb for not offering to let him use my 12 ga. and maybe he would have got the first tree rat out. That way, I rationalized to myself then, we could have spent the whole morning together hunting, because hunting was the love of my life back then. And him sharing it with me, if only for that 15 min. was unforgettable.

 

Great story and sentiment. My father died when I was 13 and my mother never remarried because she never wanted anyone to try to replace my father.
My father, too, was from that "great generation". He was on the LSMR 197 in the South Pacific when WWII ended after seeing action at Iwo Jima and the other S. Pacific battles near the end of the war.
He rarely mentioned it to us, so most of what I know I found out from my mother years later. He was a very humble man, but one that wouldn't let life get him down. After leaving the Navy, he went to work at a VA Hospital. One night while trying to free an ambulane from the mud with a long pry board, the driver put it in reverse by mistake breaking my father's back. They fused some of his vertibrae and told him that he would be hunched over for the rest of his life. He wouldn't accept that and strapped himself to a board every night when he went to sleep so that he wouldn't unconsciously hunch over in his sleep while his back was healing. Although he lost some mobility, he never developed a hunch.
My favorite memories are of fishing witth my dad. We would wake up at 4AM, drive to the NJ Shores and rent a small boat to fish the Townswen Inlet for flounder. Since we didn't have much money, we were only able to do this once or twice/year, but each trip was very memorable.
He's been gone now for over 33 years, but I still miss him. Not having him around has been difficult, but it opened my eyes to how important a Dad can be in a kid's life. As a result, I spend as much time as possible with my kids. I've coached them, been there for almost every significant or insignificant event in their lives and still "hang with" my 19 year old son. We fly rockets together, drag race, ride dirtbikes and go to heavy metal concerts together, amongst other things. My friends and my son's friends all envy the relationship that we have. I can't imagine it being any other way.
Sorry for the long post.....

 

I dont have any memories of my father. I never met him. He left my mom shortly after I was conceived. The divorce was final before I was born. He was with another woman and is now married to her. He denies that I am his son and I've still never met him.

His loss.

 

Although I grew up having my father critizing everything I did, and telling me why I wouldnt be able to do what I wanted in life. My favorite memory is when I was 17. I thought I had let him down to the point he would never forgive me. He took me out back for a walk into the pasture. I thought I was a gonner. He put his arm around me and explained why he loved me. I always knew he did, was the first time I remember hearing it.
I consider myself fortunate, I've seen how else it could have been.